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Use Caution When Accessing Newly Available Army Records
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Published: March 23, 2008
Finally, the enlistment records of nearly 9 million men and women who were in the U.S. Army during World War II can be accessed online.That's good news for researchers who have long been frustrated by privacy laws and loss of records in a fire at the National Military Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
The digital enlistment records include the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and are available through the National Archive's Web site. They can be a rich source of information, showing an enlistee's serial number, place of birth, race, marital status, civilian occupation, education level and more.
We genealogists welcome access to as many records as possible. But, as usual, we have to question what we get and accept information with caution. This seems especially true with these files.
According to the government, more than a third of the digital enlistment files contain a scanning error. This is mostly because of problems when microfilm copies were made years ago.
The digital records are the second reformatting of the original files. During World War II, the Army created the original records on IBM punch cards for each enlistee. After the war, it transferred the punch-card records onto microfilm and destroyed the cards.
But the scanning mechanism used to move information from punch cards to microfilm was imprecise. It wasn't able to read various characters on the cards and replaced any unreadable character with a blank space. It also incorrectly converted other characters, introducing more mistakes.
About 13 percent of the punch cards - 1.5 million - couldn't even be scanned. So be prepared not to find whoever you're looking for, even though they were World War II Army veterans.
The electronic records were created from the microfilm by the National Archives in 1994. This was to support the reconstruction of military files lost in the 1973 fire at the records center in St. Louis.
On the archives site, you'll see pound (or number) symbols (#) in the digital enlistment files. The symbols are substitutes for the blank spaces put into the microfilm copies by the faulty scanning mechanism.
I did a quick field test of the digital files by looking for my father-in-law's record. He served as a radio operator with the 305th Bombardment Group in the 8th Air Force of the Army Air Corps, stationed in Chelveston, England. Now 85, he was seriously injured on a mission over Magdeburg, Germany, in 1945.
Dad was able to quickly spot what we believed was a mistake. His occupation is shown as "mail carrier," which he gruffly told me wasn't right and brushed it off. I later gently guided the conversation back to his occupation when he enlisted and found he had been giving it some thought.
Before enlisting, he worked for the railroad as a messenger. If you think about the broad categories the government often casts us, it makes sense that a "messenger" became a "mail carrier." It is an excellent example of how genealogists need to question their preconceived notions. Dad and I both assumed the government files incorrectly said he worked for the postal service.
Because many World War II veterans have passed on, it's not always possible to directly confirm whether an enlistment file is correct. It's up to us as genealogists - knowing there are mistakes in these records - to find other ways to verify the information.
To view the digital records, go to the National Archives' Access to Archival Database section at aad.archives.gov/aad. Remember these are files of Army veterans; servicemen and women who were in the Navy and Marine Corps during World War II aren't included.
One Stop Book Shop
RootsBooks.com allows you to quickly find books and software from just about any corner of the genealogy world. In addition to being fully searchable, it has an attractive, user-friendly home page.
Colorful tabs are clickable for every state and some genealogy-related topics such as DNA, software and digital photography.
The site is a service of online newsletter guru Dick Eastman, teamed with Amazon.com for the ordering process.
Spring In The Air
Near my house, a mother mallard is strutting with her new ducklings lined up behind her, and oak trees are dumping pollen onto cars and patios. Apparently, companies are joining this springtime feeling with a parade of new products:
TMG Utilities: John Cardinal has released the newest version of his software that runs with The Master Genealogist.
The major change is an addition of multiple research log fields in the "find and replace" feature. There are, however, many small "fixes and changes." Review all the latest at johncardinal.com/tmgutil/versions.htm.
LegacyCharting: The Millennia Corporation, producer of Legacy Family Tree, has released new tree charting software. The company says the software is compatible with Family Tree Maker, Personal Ancestry File and RootsMagic.
The new charting will be a part of version seven of Legacy, due for release in mid-June. You can view the impressive charts and download the software at LegacyCharting.com/samples .htm.
MacFamilyTree: Mac users get a new spring gift, too. Synium software has released fully functional public beta of the product. New charts are among the improvements for Mac users. Get the details and the free demo at synium.de/products/macfamilytree.
New Magazine: Discovering Family History is a new magazine from the publishers of Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy. It will be published six times a year, and the introductory subscription rate is $20.
Download a preview issue of this publication, which is aimed at beginning researchers, at discoveringfamily history.com.
No Fooling!
Join me in Bradenton for the monthly meeting of the Manasota Genealogy Society at 9:30 a.m. April 1. I'll be lecturing on "In the Wilderness and on the Battlefield With Your Civil War Ancestor."
This program isn't about who was right or wrong or who won the war. It focuses on what the war was like for the average foot soldier.
The meeting is at the Manatee County Public Library, 301 Barcarrota Blvd. W. There is no charge for attendance.
Learn more about the society and get directions to the meetings at rootsweb.com/~flmgs/index.htm.
National Conference
If you are thinking about going to the annual National Genealogical Society Conference in Kansas City, Mo., on May 14-17, now is the time to register. An "early bird" discount is available through March 31.
The discount registration fee is $175 for society members and $210 for nonmembers. On April 1, it increases to $210 for members and $245 for nonmembers.
Registering in March also provides the choice of a printed syllabus or one on CD-ROM - or you can get both for $10. Registrants on or after April 1 receive the syllabus on CD-ROM; they can't get a printed syllabus because of advance printing. To register, go to ngsgenealogy.org or call (703) 525-0050.
Sharon Tate Moody is a certified genealogist by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Send genealogy questions and event announcements to her in care of BayLife, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606; or stmoody0720 @mac.com. She is
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